George Strait performs last Las Cruces show during Cowboy Rides Away tour

When George Strait announced his two-year "The Cowboy Rides Away" farewell tour last September, he said he would play cities and venues that hold "fond memories" for him.

Count among them NMSU's Pan American Center, where Strait performs Saturday, and Barbara "Mother" Hubbard, the woman who ran the 13,000-seat venue for 30 years.

"Las Cruces is probably the smallest place we're playing on the tour, in honor of Barbara Hubbard," said Louis Messina, Strait's longtime tour promoter.

"We had to play for her and all that she's done for the music industry and students all the way around," he added. "We had to do something that was special."

Hubbard, 85, retired from NMSU in 1998, but still plays a major role in luring top country acts there. She's trained hundreds of students who aspire to work in the music business, including Messina's son, Jeff.

She first booked Strait at Pan Am in 1985, four years into his already hot career, which has resulted in an unprecedented 59 No. 1 hits, his 2006 induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame and more than 60 major awards and honors, including a Grammy, CMAs and a National Medal of Arts.

"When he first came I gave him a cross for the barn," Hubbard said of the singing cowboy, who brought his young son and future rodeo cowboy George "Bubba" Strait Jr., on that tour.

"I don't know. I just love him," she added. "He's so quiet. There's a sort of bond between us."

Strait is one of the few superstars to routinely perform at, and sell out, the Las Cruces arena.

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He's played there 11 times since 1990, drawing 123,250 people.

A rare El Paso performance on the 1999 edition of his George Strait Country Music Festival drew more than 33,000 people at the Sun Bowl, but was cut short by high winds before Strait could go on.

The King of Country has broken his own Pan Am attendance records several times, most recently in 2011. A March 25 show with Reba McEntire and Lee Ann Womack drew a record 13,044.

Saturday's show sold out the same number of tickets in two hours on Oct. 12. The crowd could grow if a few more seats can be squeezed in. "(We're) trying to figure out how in the world to slip in a few more people," Hubbard said. "People are calling daily for tickets."

Strait, who turns 61 on May 18, announced he was quitting the road — but not his music career — last September. "This is going to be a very special, emotional tour for me," he said then. "Everywhere we're going holds fond memories and I'm looking forward to paying my respects."

Messina said Strait first started talking about retiring from the road after that 2011 tour with McEntire. "We did our normal tour of January, February and March, and we did October, November and December, and he goes, 'Man, I feel like I didn't have any time off,'" Messina recalled. "Touring takes a lot out of you. It really does. ... It was a discussion for a long, long time."

Messina, who is based in Austin, believes that Strait's 60th birthday in 2012 and the birth of his grandson, George "Harvey" Strait III, led to his decision to hang up his touring boots.

Strait and his Ace in the Hole Band will play 21 shows this year, between the Jan. 18 opener in Lubbock and the June 1 finale before 70,000 people in San Antonio, near Strait's hometown of Poteet. Messina said another "20 to 22" show next year will be announced "soon."

"He may not play another show. He may," the promoter said, adding that Strait's "very, very clear. I know George Strait. I know he'll never tour again."

There's a noticeable difference in the singer on this tour, Messina said, from the "good gallop in his step" to the more intimate, even emotional moments of his concerts. "George is getting very personal. He sits down and talks about when he started writing songs and went to Nashville," Messina said. "It's kind of a George Strait up close and personal kind of thing. It's exciting."

Strait isn't giving up his music career. He's got a new album in the works. But Messina's not looking forward to 2014. "This time next year it's gonna be sad," he said. "It's just, I don't know, I'm getting a little melancholy just thinking about it."

Hubbard is, too. She jokes that her old friend has "paid my bills" for years and contributed generously to one of16 student internships provided by her nonprofit, the American Collegiate Talent Showcase. While in Cruces, Strait will present a house key to a local veteran who'll receive the home from the Military Warriors Support Foundation, which has benefitted from the singer's largesse.

She plans to attend his show tonight in Albuquerque and the Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday in Las Vegas, where Strait will join Garth Brooks in a tribute to Dick Clark.

Like the more than 13,000 people who'll pack the Pan Am on Saturday, she's ready to pay her respects to the cowboy, and her friend, who's riding away.

"More people in this community ... have welcomed that man, and he felt it from the bottom of his toes to the tip of his hat," she said. "I don't think he'll find a warmer audience. We might be small, but dynamite comes in small packages. We're really ready for him. He's aware of that."

Doug Pullen may be reached at dpullen@elpasotimes.com; 546-6397. Read Pullen My Blog at elpasotimes.com/blogs. Follow him on Twitter at @dougpullen and Facebook at facebook.com/dougpulleneptimes.